BEIRUT (AP) KAREEM CHEHAYEB — The United States is rerouting $72 million of America’s assistance to Lebanon to help the country’s cash-strapped government boost wages of its soldiers and police officers, the U.S. ambassador said Wednesday. Washington is a key donor of the Lebanese Army and its 80,000 members, providing over $3 billion in military aid since 2006. The announcement Wednesday is the first time the U.S. is allocating funds for wages of security personnel in Lebanon. Lebanese leaders, deep in political deadlock, have failed at implementing economic reforms to make the country viable again. The economic meltdown has also impoverished Lebanese soldiers and members of the police — two forces that have been rare unifiers in a country deeply divided by sectarian politics. Their inability to pay viable wages and feed their personnel has threatened Lebanon’s overall security and stability.

Before the crisis, an enlisted soldier earned the equivalent of about $800 a month, but that has now dropped to just over $100 due to the devaluation of the pound. A higher-ranking officer’s monthly salary is now worth around $250. Many security personnel and troops have subsequently left the service or taken up second jobs while the Lebanese Army has resorted to unorthodox fundraising tactics to cover expenses such as offering paid helicopter rides and charging high fees for journalist permits. The U.S. State Department notified Congress last January of its intention to redirect the funds for military and police wages. Some Republicans in Congress have called for eliminating military aid to Lebanon altogether, citing the growing political power of Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. Unlike some other U.S. programs that have covered full wages of allied troops, the assistance announced Wednesday by U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea is a one-time action. It will provide every Lebanese soldier and police officer with an extra $100 a month on top of their wages for the next six months, to soften the blow of the economic crisis. The United Nations Development Program will disburse the funds.

سجعان قزي

@AzziSejean

تَشعر فئاتٌ لبنانيّةٌ متعدِّدةُ الطوائفِ والطبقات بصعوبةِ الحياةِ في لبنان في ظلِّ النظامِ الحاليِّ بعدما باتت التحوّلاتُ الحضاريّةُ الداخليّةُ أكثرَ قساوةً من الهِجرةِ الاغترابيّة. يَشعرُ اللبنانيّون بوجودِ قرارٍ قَضى بنَفيهِم عن وطنهم من دون سفرٍ، فالوطنُ قيَمٌ قبلَ أن يكونَ مكانًا. نَشأَت في الأوساطِ اللبنانيّةِ “كانتونات” مُغلقةٌ تُمارس حياتَها الخاصّةَ والعامّةَ بمنأى عن المجتمعِ اللبنانيِّ الفسيح. إنها “كانتوناتٌ اجتماعيّةٌ” تتداولُ في كيفيةِ تسييسِ ذاتِها وإعطائِها حالةً شرعيّةً. لكنَّ الفرقَ شاسعٌ بين كانتونات النوادي المغلَقةِ وبين الكانتوناتِ الدستوريّة.

البعضُ يُريد أن يجعلَ لبنانَ مجموعةَ جُزرٍ تَتواصَلُ عبرَ القواربِ ووسائلِ النقل. ويَظنُّ أنَّ استحداثَ كانتوناتٍ دستوريّةٍ هو بسهولةِ ابتكارِ كانتوناتٍ اجتماعيّةِ. لقد أمسى لبنان بلدًا طبقيًّا من دونِ صراعٍ طبقيٍّ. فئاتُه الاجتماعيّةُ كَوَّنت طَبقاتٍ ذاتيّةً تُمارسُ نمطَ حياةٍ خاصًّا من دونِ أن تتصارعَ اجتماعيًّا وأمنيًّا، ولا حتّى سياسيًّا. وحين انتفضَ الشعبُ وتَظاهرَ وقَطعَ الطرقاتِ من أجلِ تحسينِ شروطِ حياتِه اليوميّةِ، إِنما انتفَضَ ضِدَّ لا أحدَ، وضِدَّ عناوينَ مغلوطة. وحين اختارَ في الانتخاباتِ مُمثلِّيه غالِبًا ما اختارَ الأسماءَ المغلوطةَ أيضًا.

إذا كانت هذه الأفكارُ تراودُ البعضَ فلأنَّ لبنان كان ـــ على شوائبِه ـــ بلدَ النهضةِ وباتَ بلدَ الانحطاط، وكان بلدَ البحبوحةِ وأصبحَ بلد البؤس، وكان بلدَ الحريّةِ وصارَ بلدَ الفوضى. من عَرفوا لبنانَ الماضي يَتبرّأُون من لبنان الحاضر، ومن يُبصِرون لبنانَ الحاضرَ يكتشفونَ أنه يَنتمي إلى جاهليّةٍ أُخرى. الغربةُ مشتركةٌ والحنينُ متبايِنٌ والحلُّ متناقضٌ.

لذلك، كثُرت في الآونِة الأخيرةِ طروحاتٌ دستوريّةٌ مختلفةٌ من أجلِ إيجادِ صيغٍ دستوريّةٍ تُعيد الأملَ إلى الحياةِ في لبنان من دون أن تقضيَ على كيانِ لبنان. تَعتقد هذه الفئاتُ أنّها صَبرت كثيرًا على الصيغةِ القائمةِ وأعْطَتها جميعَ حظوظِها، فيما فئاتٌ أخرى، من كلِّ الطوائفِ أيضًا، تَعتقدُ أنَّ المراحلَ الصعبةَ باتَت وراءَنا والصيغةَ الحاليّةَ ستَستعيدُ تألّقَها، ولا داعٍ بالتالي للبحثِ عن صيغٍ جديدة. لكن سَها عن بالِ هؤلاء أنَّ تألُّقَ الصيغةِ اللبنانيّةِ يَتعذّرُ بمنأى عن انتظامِ الاستقرارِ السياسيِّ والأمنيِّ والكيانيِّ في سائرِ دولِ الشرقِ الأوسط.

by Taylor Hatmaker@tayhatmaker — techcrunch.com — Two years after the company formerly known as Facebook suspended then-President Donald Trump’s account, it’s bringing him back. Meta announced its decision to restore former president Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts on Wednesday, adding that it would do so in “the coming weeks.” The company was expected to weigh in some time this month on Trump’s fate. Meta’s semi-independent external policy committee the Oversight Board declined to decide the case itself when given the chance two years ago, but it did push the company to set a timeframe for Trump’s suspension. That two-year suspension period expired this month. In tweets and a post on Meta’s blog, Facebook Global Affairs President Nick Clegg said that Meta was done evaluating if the “serious risk to public safety” that Trump posed two years ago remains. “Our determination is that the risk has sufficiently receded, and that we should therefore adhere to the two-year timeline we set out,” Clegg said. “As such, we will be reinstating Mr. Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts in the coming weeks.”

Clegg also cited new guardrails that will keep Trump operating within the rules, namely “heightened penalties for repeat offenses.” Meta issued updated rules this month that apply to public figures stoking civil unrest and under those guidelines Trump would be suspended for anywhere from a month to two more years if he offends again. The Oversight Board criticized Meta at the time for making up new rules for Trump’s open-ended punishment, which it issued after the former president incited violence during the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Twitter was less equivocal, issuing Trump a lifetime ban from its services. Twitter’s own decision seemed permanent at the the time, but two years later SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk purchased the social company, reversing that decision and many other suspensions that the company made in the course of enforcing its guidelines against hate and harassment.

By Anna Foster & David Gritten BBC News, Beirut & London –– Lebanon’s top prosecutor has charged the judge leading the inquiry into the 2020 Beirut port blast and ordered the release of suspects in custody. Ghassan Oweidat summoned Judge Tarek Bitar for questioning, accusing him of “acting without a mandate”. But the judge insisted that Mr Oweidat had no authority to charge him.

On Monday, he unexpectedly restarted the probe after a 13-month suspension and filed unspecified charges against eight officials, including Mr Oweidat. No-one has yet been held accountable for the blast on 4 August 2020, which killed at least 218 people and injured more than 6,000 others. A fire triggered the detonation of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate that had been stored unsafely in a port warehouse for almost six years, causing a massive explosion that devastated a large part of the Lebanese capital. It is widely believed that officials and politicians were aware of the combustible chemical’s existence and the danger it posed but that they failed to secure, remove or destroy it. Victims’ relatives and activists say the investigation into the disaster is being hampered by the Lebanese political leadership’s efforts to shield those responsible from scrutiny.

The power struggle at the highest levels of the Lebanese judiciary burst into the open on Wednesday when the public prosecutor dramatically announced that all of the 17 suspects being held in pre-trial detention could go free. Mr Oweidat also accused Judge Bitar of acting beyond his jurisdiction and imposed a travel ban on him. He told AFP news agency that the judge was “rebelling against the judiciary and usurping power”, and that he had filed charges in order to “prevent sedition”. But Judge Bitar vowed to continue his investigation “until the indictment is issued”, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency cited him as saying. He declared that Mr Oweidat’s decisions were “illegitimate and should not be implemented”, noting that the prosecutor was “a defendant, and as such he cannot take any decision in this case”. Mr Oweidat had previously recused himself from matters concerning the investigation after his brother-in-law, former public works minister Ghazi Zaiter, was charged.

by Lachmi Deb Roy — .firstpost.comA poetic blend of the personal and the political scene, Skies of Lebanon combines live action with animation to create a vivid picture of Lebanon, inspired by the family history of the director Chloé Mazlo. By using stories told to her by her grandmother about life during the Lebanese civil war, Mazlo crafts a touching and heart-breaking story of love during the conflict. In an exclusive interview to Firstpost, Chloé Mazlo says that she loves India though it is her first visit. “I wish to come back again.” Skies of Labanon is her first feature film. When it comes to portraying a story that is so close to her heart and has been waiting to be told, it is a story she heard from her grandmother. It is a story of love set in Lebanon during the 1950s, amidst a civil war. Above all, she was driven to make the film by the urge to tell this story. “My grandmother was born in Switzerland, but she didn’t like the life there. Moving to Lebanon, she fell in love with the place and its culture. She felt that she was born for the second time. She simply loved the people, the food and the close knit family culture of Lebanon. And for me it’s a letter of love for the country.”

The film was selected for the Semaine de la Critique at the 2020 Cannes Film Festival. Talking about her film, Chloé Mazlo’s says, “Skies of Lebanon (Sous le ciel d’Alice) is a story of love between Switzerland and Lebanese people. It’s is the story of young Alice who leaves Switzerland for Lebanon, a sunny and exuberant country, where she falls in love with Joseph, an astrophysicist who dreams of sending the first Lebanese into space.” Chloé Mazlo was born in Paris, but she grew up hearing stories on Lebanon. “Hearing to the stories for me Lebanon became like a paradise on earth.” Mazlo was so drawn to the story of Skies of Lebanon that she did not regret the flaws that crept in while making the film. “With Skies of Lebanon, I wanted to tell the stories of my family, using the tone they had when they talked about the war. I couldn’t find this tone in the other films that I saw about the particular subject. I grew up fascinated by this country and despite the civil war, my family still feels it’s a beautiful country.”

By Nada Maucourant Atallah  — thenationalnews.com — Imagine ordering a coffee for one price, then three hours later being charged more for the same hot drink. You’d think it was a scam but it’s an unfortunate reality for Lebanese living through an unprecedented currency crisis. A customer at Goro, a restaurant in Beirut’s Gemmayzeh neighbourhood, experienced precisely this feeling while visiting one of the popular haunts of Beirut nightlife and dining. Within three hours, the price of his coffee jumped by 9 000 Lebanese pounds, the equivalent of $0.18 on the parallel market, where the national currency topped the symbolic 50,000 mark on Thursday, the first time such an unwelcome milestone has been reached. “Ordered my first coffee at 10.30am, the second one at 1pm. The Lebanese Lira lost value during that time, resulting in two different charges”, he wrote in a tweet on Friday, widely shared on social media. The sudden increase is due to the restaurant pricing its menu in dollars.

Customers can pay the bill in dollars or in the local currency, but at the parallel market rate, which remains highly volatile and can undergo sudden changes in mere hours. Once pegged at 1,500 against the US currency, the Lebanese pound has now lost 97 per cent of its value since the start of the crisis caused by a drastic shortage of dollars, which plunged 80 per cent of the population into poverty and led the country to the verge of financial collapse. More and more restaurants have switched to the dollar instead of the Lebanese pound, which is gradually disappearing from menus. Restaurateurs say they have no choice. “Because of the volatility of the Lebanese pound, our suppliers are only accepting dollars,” said Kamal Darwich, a manager at Onno in Beirut. He said the price increases also covered rocketing expenses such as gas and electricity, as restaurants have to rely on expensive private generator suppliers in the near absence of state electricity. Salaries, however, are not entirely in dollars but are paid as a mix of both currencies.

(by Malek el Khazen) Disclaimer: (My opinions are my own) – 

The “general” in artificial general intelligence is not characterized by the number of different problems it can solve, but by the ability to solve many types of problems. A general intelligence agent must be able to autonomously formulate its own representations. It has to invent its own approach to solving problems, selecting its own goals, representations, methods, and so on. To create truly intelligent systems, we need to move beyond data and model-centric approaches, and instead build systems that can mimic the brain’s processing of information to understand the ‘real world.

Current Approaches that are being used to Create an AI models:

The first is to create an AI that is able to understand and learn like a child by using reinforcement learning. However, this method has its limitations, as it is difficult to create a rich environment for the AI to learn. In many cases, you cannot use rewards as an efficient way of learning. For example, a human can clearly communicate the abstract meaning of an article vs through Reinforcement learning this becomes much more complex.

Another popular idea for creating Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is to continue to scale deep learning. Bigger neural networks will eventually crack the code of general intelligence. And the evidence shows that adding more layers and parameters to neural networks yields incremental improvements, especially in language models such as GPT-3.

· Nevertheless, critics such as PyTorch Tabular creator Manu Joseph was quoted during a conference: “The lack of high-quality test data and a majority of the internet content are duplicates make it difficult to gather enough data for LLM training.” Additionally, the fact that meta’s Galactica LLM was trained based exclusively on scientific research makes its output even worse. This resulted in the public demo being discontinued within three days.

NNA – Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Beshara Boutros Al-Rahi, strongly criticized the nature of the presidential election sessions, describing the scene in Parliament as a “continuing farce.” “The farce of the election sessions continues, officials must take a stand of conscience before the oppressed people and the condition of the state that is disintegrating,” Patriarch Al-Rahi said. During his homily on Sunday, the Patriarch held ministers and MPs responsible for the stigma attached to Lebanon by making it lose its right to vote in the United Nations. “The dollar has exceeded fifty thousand, and the gasoline is hitting one million soon, so how will the people live?” he questioned.

By Simon Caldwell — catholicherald.co.uk — — The leader of the Maronite Church has appealed to the international community to begin the repatriation of 1.5 million Syrian refugees from Lebanon because they threaten to destabilise the country. Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Raï, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, said the refugees, who are overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim, represented a “real demographic, political and security threat”. “The presence of more than a million and a half Syrian refugees who emigrated and were displaced since 2011 have multiplied and turned into a heavy burden economically and financially on a country already in deep crisis,” he said. “We ask that they be repatriated to their country Syria to protect and rebuild it,” he said during a visit to London. “We demand also that the international donor agencies offer them assistance inside their own country, not in Lebanon.”

by Cathrin Schaer – dw — Food prices doubled, salaries halved, banks restricting withdrawals: Egyptians now have the same problems as the Lebanese. But if things get worse here, the fallout will be far more damaging. As the value of the Egyptian pound plummets, grocery shopping has changed for many middle-class Egyptians, becoming a strict exercise in currency control. “Instead of buying three kilograms of rice when we go shopping, we just buy a kilo or a half kilo,” explained Ahmed Hassan, 40, an accountant and father-of-three from the Shoubra neighborhood in Cairo. “We’re trying to reduce our expenditures. Unfortunately we can’t limit everything because our children need certain things,” he told DW.

Egypt’s currency has devalued by around one-third since late October and inflation currently stands at over 20%. Some economists suspect it’s even worse than that. They put the unofficial rate — which includes Egypt’s huge informal economy — as high as 101%. Food prices doubled, salaries halved and banks that restrict how much cash you can take out of your accounts: The financial freefall that many ordinary people in Egypt are experiencing today sounds very similar to the catastrophic economic crisis citizens in nearby Lebanon have been dealing with since 2019.

‘Remarkable similarities’ between Lebanon and Egypt

In Lebanon, desperate locals have gone so far as to rob their own banks simply to withdraw their savings, cities have been plunged into darkness as fuel for power stations has run out and the country’s middle class is being pushed into debt. Things haven’t gone that far in Egypt yet. But as the bad economic news keeps coming, some are asking: Could Egypt soon become “the new Lebanon?” “There are remarkable similarities between Lebanon’s now abjectly failed economy and Egypt’s struggling one,” Robert Springborg, an adjunct professor at Canada’s Simon Fraser University, wrote in a 2022 report for the Washington-based non-profit organization Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED). “The consequences of the collapse of confidence in Lebanon have been devastating but they would pale into near insignificance if repeated on an Egyptian scale,” he warned. Egypt’s current economic problems are the result of a number of internal issues — including political unrest, corruption and government mismanagement — which have more recently combined with external crises, like the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the threat of a global recession.

Economic mismanagement

By Sam Sweeney – The nationalreview.com — I chuckled at the question but wasn’t surprised. I had just purchased about $1,500 worth of manufactured agricultural products directly from the factory for a small NGO I run in northeastern Syria. I was sitting in the factory’s office, which was bustling with potential customers and workers coming and going. In these situations, it isn’t the corruption that is surprising, it’s how normal it has become, with no hush-hush or backroom whispering. In a room full of strangers, the manager was asking me if I wanted him to doctor the receipts for the NGO so I could take a cut. No one batted an eye. Given that I founded the NGO and run it as a volunteer, my main thought was that if I did steal this money from the NGO, I would just be making more work for myself, because we would need to do more fundraising to replace the lost money, as we were already cutting it close on the budget needed to finish the project. For me, playing it straight was as much a practical move as a moral choice. But if I were an employee of a large international NGO whose management rarely traveled into Syria, it would have been a great opportunity to pocket a few hundred dollars.

I mentioned this anecdote to a Western employee of a large NGO working in Syria. This person said it validated what they already suspected, that corruption among their local staff was the rule, not the exception. Millions of dollars are pouring into northeast Syria via dozens of international and local NGOs to fund displaced-person camps, infrastructure projects, education and health initiatives, and other needs — urgent or otherwise. Oversight is almost impossible, despite the many checks in place that are meant to prevent corruption or nepotism. The management of these NGOs comes from an array of mostly Western countries, and if they visit Syria, their movements are heavily restricted, and they are usually confined to a compound or villa, allowing for limited interaction with the broader society. Few speak Arabic (or Kurdish or Syriac or any of the other languages used in northeast Syria), and they have little access to information outside of what they are told by their local staff.